Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) program manager Orlando Cabrera Rivera gave this presentation about the North American Pollutant Release and Transfer Project (PRTR) at the 2012 National Training Conference on the Toxics Release Inventory and Environmental Conditions in Communities in Washington, DC. Find out more: http://www.cec.org/takingstock

1. Tracking Pollutant Releases and Transfers
in North America to Support
Sustainability
The North American PRTR Project
TRI Conference, Washington, DC
April 10-13, 2012

2. Goals and Objectives:
 Enhanced access to and awareness of the sources, amounts and
management of pollutants of concern across North America
 Increased comparability, quality and completeness of North American
PRTR data, esp. for developing sector pollutant profiles
 NAPRTR data in support of decision-making at all levels (communities,
industry, governments) for pollution prevention and reduction.
Activities:
 Taking Stock Online: Integrated North American PRTR database and tools
 Taking Stock report: annual publication with analyses of PRTR data and
North American health and environmental issues
 Tri-lateral collaboration on comparability in the areas of data reporting,
collection, and quality assurance of PRTR data
 Outreach and development of relationships with stakeholder
communities via Taking Stock, our annual public meeting, webinars.

3. About 35,000 PRTR Reporting Facilities
• Canada’s NPRI
• US TRI
• Mexico’s RETC

4. Taking Stock: Report and Website

5. Taking Stock Online Query Results: Releases to Water

6. North American Watersheds and Facilities Reporting Releases to Water

7. Taking Stock Online: Cross-Border Transfers

8. Taking Stock Online and Sustainability
• Gaining a better understanding of facilities’ pollutant releases and
waste management practices
• Comparing one facility’s releases to those of other facilities from the
same company, or in the same sector across North America, and
establishing benchmarking for pollution reductions
• Verifying corporate environmental reports against reported PRTR
information
• Researching sustainable alternatives.

9. Total reported:
over 4.9 billion kg

10. Releases to air: 542 million kg, 444 pollutants
– 5 pollutants = 63% (hydrochloric acid = 25%)
– US & Mexican fossil fuel power plants are major source
Releases to water: 211 million kg, 257 pollutants
– Nitrates and ammonia = 91%, contribute to nutrient loading and aquatic
“dead zones”
– Canadian municipal sewage treatment plants are major source
Releases to land: 841 million kg, 214 pollutants
– Zinc, lead, barium, copper, manganese and arsenic compounds = 87%
– US metal ore mining facilities are a major source
Releases to underground injection: 421 million kg, 151 pollutants
AND releases to disposal: 733 million kg, 357 pollutants
– Hydrogen sulfide and total reduced sulfur = approx. 75%
– Canadian oil & gas extraction operations are a major source.

11.  2.1 billion kg in off-site transfers were reported (80% of
these to recycling)
 Almost 182 million kg were cross-border transfers, e.g.:
– 80% of Canadian transfers to the US were sulfuric acid sent by
petroleum and coal products manufacturers for recycling
– US primary metal manufacturers transferred:
• Over 4 million kg of lead compounds to Canada for
recycling;
• over 21 million kg of zinc compounds to Mexico for
recycling (but zinc is not subject to Mexico’s RETC)
– Mexico transferred over 6 million kg to US facilities, most of it
1,2-Dichloroethane sent by the chemical manufacturing sector
for disposal.

12. The NAPRTR Project: Progress on Activities
 Taking Stock Online: – integration of three additional data years,
2009 data overview, enhanced tools (Released on March 15, 2012)
 Taking Stock report: Feature Analysis of Changes in Pollutant
Releases over Time (Fall 2012)
 Trilateral Collaboration: Update of the Action Plan to Enhance the
Comparability of PRTRs in North America
 Outreach: Webinar on Taking Stock Online (Spring/summer 2012);
and public meeting of the North American PRTR Project (Canada,
Fall 2012)
Commission for Environmental Cooperation

13. For more information:
Orlando Cabrera Rivera
Program Manager,
Air Quality/PRTR
Telephone: (514) 350-4300
Fax: (514) 350-4314
Email: ocabrera@cec.org
www.cec.org/takingstock
Three countries. One environment.